Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The Sunday Mass attendance rate fell from 25% in 2015 to 15% in 2025. The bishops’ conference also reported declining numbers of seminarians and religious vocations.

“The recovery of lapsed and inactive believers is an urgent task,” the bishops’ conference stated in its report. “How to invite back into the community those who have been unable to continue their sacramental life… is a pastoral question that can no longer be ignored.”

The nation of 51.5 million (map) is 32% Christian, 25% Buddhist, 15% ethnic religionist, 14% new religionist, and 11% Confucian.

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church warned in a recent address that the world is “at a dangerous precipice where human pride and irresponsibility can lead to new disasters” reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster.

In the most prominent front-page article in its April 30 edition, L’Osservatore Romano drew attention to the plight of Ethiopians who are fleeing their strife-torn nation for Yemen via Djibouti (map).

Vatican prosecutors have refused to comply with an order from a Vatican appeals court, in the latest stunning development in the long-running “trial of the century.”